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Tag Archive for U.S.

A new study about fears of Americans reveals some predictable results about crime, natural disasters and what people are really afraid of. The Chapman University Survey on American Fears | Chapman University. Chapman University has initiated a nationwide poll on what strikes fear in Americans. The Chapman University Survey on American Fears included 1,500 participants…

Seismologists take a look at the aftershock activity on this intra-plate seismic zone and then make a Monty Python joke. Unfortunately, it’s not funny… Study: New Madrid fault zone alive and active. The New Madrid fault zone in the nation’s midsection is active and could spawn future large earthquakes, scientists reported Thursday. It’s “not dead…

Some media outlets that should know better, and some who love to hype stuff, have both reported a massive debris field from the 2011 tsunami surging towards the US western shore. But, that’s wrong. NOAA: NO GIANT FLOATING ISLAND OF TSUNAMI DEBRIS. Federal officials say there is no island of debris from the 2011 Japanese…

Another “sovereign citizen”. This is just a reminder that there are all kinds. And there always will be those on the edges of society. ‘Sovereign citizen’ convicted of income tax fraud – Springfield, IL – The State Journal-Register. A southwestern Illinois man who insisted he wasn’t bound by U.S. tax laws faces up to two…

What’s with the bear attacks. They are getting scary. Bear Attacks Raise Safety Concerns – ABC News. At least six people have been mauled in a spate of bear attacks in five states over the last week, raising questions about why there have been so many incidents this year. The attacks on hunters and hikers…

This guy just decided to make up his own tax rules. The IRS caught up with him. Eventually. Portland jury finds man guilty in bizarre tax fraud known as ‘the process’ | OregonLive.com. A Portland jury on Friday found Miles J. Julison guilty of making off with more than $400,000 in a bizarre tax-fraud scheme,…

Why am I not surprised by this? The Economic Development Administration (EDA) overreacted to being informed that they had malware on their internal system, to the point of physically destroying $170,500 of computer hardware (and would have destroyed more if they had not run out of budget to carry on that destruction). US agency baffled…

Jaguars exist in the U.S. but there is not enough evidence to show they are populating the area. Thus, the declaration of “critical habitat” is a prickly one. Jaguar roves near Rosemont mine site. A male jaguar has roamed the Santa Rita Mountains’ eastern flank for at least nine months, photos obtained from the federal…

A new petition has appeared at the White House petition site to ban religious-based “science” instruction. Ban Creationism and Intelligent Design in the science classroom as federal law. | We the People: Your Voice in Our Government. Since Darwin’s groundbreaking theory of Evolution by Natural Selection, scientists all around the world have found monumental amounts…

It’s all over Fox News: Benghazi Benghazi Benghazi. It’s AWFUL. Sen. Inhofe says “Of all the great cover-ups in history — the Pentagon papers, Iran-Contra, Watergate, all the rest of them — this … is going to go down as most egregious cover-up in American history.” Republicans are threatening impeachment of President Obama. Oh, FFS,…

A new bill is proposed to study autism and vaccines. Why? We know this answer. There is no correlation. It’s been done. Text of H.R. 1757: Vaccine Safety Study Act (Introduced version) – GovTrack.us. H. R. 1757 To direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services to conduct or support a comprehensive study comparing total…

This made the news a few weeks ago. Now NPR has an interesting take on why the conclusion may be flawed. Atheist Shoes, Citizen Science And Peer Review : 13.7: Cosmos And Culture : NPR. In late 2012, a “cadre of shoemakers & artists in Berlin, Germany, who make ridiculously comfortable, Bauhaus-inspired shoes” decided to…

Some assumptions go wrong with this story… Mysterious ‘boom’ heard across region – News – The Daily American – West Frankfort, IL. Social media was abuzz this weekend following what is begin described as a “loud boom” that was heard all over Southern Illinois Saturday. The source of the noise is unknown and, according to…

Yesterday was a painful day. As a parent, it’s extremely difficult to imagine anything worse than the Connecticut shooting. Before the news came out, this story was in the queue… Shooting rumors kept more than 1,000 Huntsville, county students out of class Wednesday More than 1,000 students were absent Wednesday at two schools following rumors…

Americans’ Global Warming Beliefs and Attitudes in September 2012 | Yale Project on Climate Change Communication. A reprot titled “Climate change in the American Mind: Americans’ Global Warming Belief and Attitudes in September 2012 [PDF] was released by a Yale cooperative. This report is based on findings from a nationally representative survey – Climate Change in…

Video shows ‘scientist’ in Congress saying evolution is from ‘pit of Hell’ – Cosmic Log. U.S. Rep. Paul Broun’s view that the theories of evolution and the big bang are “lies straight from the pit of Hell” is getting more exposure than he might have expected, thanks to a video that was made at a…

Opponent of Republican Voter ID Laws Uses TruthMarket to Crowd-fund $10,000 Bounty for Anyone Proving the Volume of Voter Fraud Is Significant. TruthMarket, a division of Truth Seal Corp., today announced that a private citizen, Geoff Tranchina, is using the platform to dispute claims that new voter ID laws address a significant problem of voter…

Crop circles come to the U.S. northwest. Granted, they aren’t nearly as impressive as the ones in Wiltshire. Crop circles appear in E. Wash. wheat field. Mysterious crop circles have appeared in an eastern Washington wheat field – not far from the nation’s largest hydropower producer – but area farmers preparing for the summer’s harvest…

The Army is looking to hire acupuncturists. Here is the job notice: USAJOBS – Search Jobs. The Interdisciplinary Pain Management Center (IPMC) at San Antonio Military Medical Center (SAMMC), Fort Sam Houston, Texas provides comprehensive pain management strategies that are holistic, multidisciplinary, and multimodal to optimize Soldiers’ quality of life. As a licensed Acupuncturist within…

Yes it’s too hot. Hotter than normal. More than 200 record highs were broken on Friday throughout the Midwest and along the East Coast. And more records fell on Saturday. Meteorologists said the recent hot streak, though not unprecedented, was unusual because of how early in the summer it struck and its duration. Dozens of…

I draw your attention to one of the most hypocritical and embarrassing documents I’ve seen in a long time: the 2012 Republican Party of Texas Report of Platform Committee and Rules Committee. We Oppose Critical Thinking – The Republican Party of Texas GOP (You Don’t Say…) The full document is here (PDF). It’s painful to…

Leader Of Bigfoot Expedition Cited For Permit Violation (NPS Digest). On February 24th, rangers received information from a concessionaire who reported that there were visitors in the park who were on a “Bigfoot hunting expedition.” …approximately 30 people had paid Matt Pruitt, who is affiliated with The Bigfoot Field Researcher’s Organization, to lead them on…

Wyoming tribe gets OK to kill 2 bald eagles for ceremonies. In a rare and potentially landmark decision, a Wyoming Indian tribe has received federal approval to kill two bald eagles for religious ceremonies, the Associated Press reports. The Northern Arapaho Tribe had sued the government last year, arguing its members’ religious freedom was being violated by the U.S.…

US Military Seeks Sixth Sense Training | Soldiers Battlefield Intuition | LiveScience. Ordinary soldiers have sometimes shown a battlefield sixth sense that has saved lives in Afghanistan and Iraq. Now the U.S. military wants to better understand that “spidey sense” and train troops to tap their inner superhero instincts. The U.S. Office of Naval Research…

Military Pokes Holes In Acupuncture Skeptics’ Theory Army doctors have been told by the top brass to rethink their “pill for every ill” approach to treating pain. For the 47,000 troops who’ve been wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan, some of the new options include less tried and true methods, like massage and chiropractic treatments. The…